Appropriate Tip for your Guide? (Archery Elk)...
- Thread starter Dan Man
- Start date
Colorado Cowboy
Super Moderator
In my opinion, its entirely dependant on what you pay for the hunt. My experience has been somewhere between 5 & 10%. Depends on how hard they work for you, attitude and overall experience....not on success alone. If the food is great, I also give a small tip to the cook.
Hope this helps as this can sometimes be a tough decision.
Hope this helps as this can sometimes be a tough decision.
NDHunter
Veteran member
What Colorado cowboy said. Just be sure to give him cash. Binoculars, knives, scopes, etc don't put food on the table...
Old Hunter
Banned
Umpqua Hunter
Veteran member
Old Hunter
Banned
Umpqua Hunter
Veteran member
Even a great guide in a great area can't assure success with a bow (or a rifle for that matter). Some of the best archery guides I know have success on elk well below 50%. The guide can't change how well the client shoots, how much effort the hunter puts in, what shape the hunter is in, if the weather is hot and dry and the bulls go nocturnal, etc. etc. That's why I said tip him based on how well he does his job.
Colorado Cowboy
Super Moderator
Exactly! Guiding isn't easy and good ones are worth every dollar you tip them.
Old Hunter
Banned
That's fine. That's the hunters fault, but the guide should get you into an elk. I could never take a tip if I was a guide, and I didn't get you a shot at an elk.
I wouldn't want a tip for my sparkling personalty.
Fink
Veteran member
If you were my guide OH, I'd tip you just for that sparkling personality!I wouldn't want a tip for my sparkling personalty.
Old Hunter
Banned
TwoBear
New Member
Dan, a standard tip in general is about 15% of your hunt cost. 10% to guide, 5% to packer/cook. Of course, all of your expectations should have been met and the outfit did what they said they were going to do. If you are guided by the outfitter it is reasonable to tip the staff and not him.
hoshour
Veteran member
Do you tip the cook if you stay in a small hunting lodge or just tip the camp cook on a pack trip?
dustin ray
Veteran member
how much are paying for your hunt my next elk hunt is $5000. a head i was thinking $200.for a tip
TwoBear
New Member
Dustin, what I posted is just a general guideline. Our guides never expect a tip, that's how we operate. So when they get a tip, no matter the amount, it is a nice surprise. The hunter can tip any amount he/she chooses, or not at all if the service didn't warrant a tip.
TwoBear
New Member
Umpqua Hunter
Veteran member
Tipping takes discretion.
When you go out for a nice meal, you would normally tip 15% to 18% or so for an 1 to 1.5 hours of service. A waiter/waitress is going to wait several tables at a time and receive tips say in the $10 to $50 an hour range (depending on the restaurant).
On a hunt, a guide is going to start at 4 or 5 am and finish at 9 or 10 pm, working 16 to 18 hours a day. On a 1 on 1 hunt that guide is only serving you. On a seven day hunt tipping only $50 a day would be a $350 tip, and that works out to only $3 an hour.
You go on a 10 day hunt, and kill on the second day, so should you only tip $100? I wouldn't think so. The guide will not be guiding anyone else (no more tips during that hunt), and may have spent days or weeks scouting for that animal.
If you base it strictly on a percentage of the price of the hunt rather than the duration, some species are just going to cost far more due to supply and demand yet still require similar guiding effort. For example a stone sheep hunt is going to run $30K+, so should a person feel obligated to tip $4500 (15%) or $321 a day for a 14 day hunt? I think 14 days of elk hunting is every bit as strenuous yet the price of the hunt would be far less.
I've been on a few guided hunts. In one case the guide knew the area well. We got into multiple bull elk and killed on day four. I tipped him well.
On another hunt I went on, the outfitter had not secured the proper permits to hunt national forest land, and my guide drove me around in a pick-up truck and clearly had not scouted. Needless to say that hunt was a bomb and I didn't tip well. Later I was called by authorities that the outfitter was under investigation.
Again all that is to say to use your discretion and treat your guide as you would want to be treated. I've always carried enough cash to be generous, then see how the hunt actually plays out.
When you go out for a nice meal, you would normally tip 15% to 18% or so for an 1 to 1.5 hours of service. A waiter/waitress is going to wait several tables at a time and receive tips say in the $10 to $50 an hour range (depending on the restaurant).
On a hunt, a guide is going to start at 4 or 5 am and finish at 9 or 10 pm, working 16 to 18 hours a day. On a 1 on 1 hunt that guide is only serving you. On a seven day hunt tipping only $50 a day would be a $350 tip, and that works out to only $3 an hour.
You go on a 10 day hunt, and kill on the second day, so should you only tip $100? I wouldn't think so. The guide will not be guiding anyone else (no more tips during that hunt), and may have spent days or weeks scouting for that animal.
If you base it strictly on a percentage of the price of the hunt rather than the duration, some species are just going to cost far more due to supply and demand yet still require similar guiding effort. For example a stone sheep hunt is going to run $30K+, so should a person feel obligated to tip $4500 (15%) or $321 a day for a 14 day hunt? I think 14 days of elk hunting is every bit as strenuous yet the price of the hunt would be far less.
I've been on a few guided hunts. In one case the guide knew the area well. We got into multiple bull elk and killed on day four. I tipped him well.
On another hunt I went on, the outfitter had not secured the proper permits to hunt national forest land, and my guide drove me around in a pick-up truck and clearly had not scouted. Needless to say that hunt was a bomb and I didn't tip well. Later I was called by authorities that the outfitter was under investigation.
Again all that is to say to use your discretion and treat your guide as you would want to be treated. I've always carried enough cash to be generous, then see how the hunt actually plays out.
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